If you have a notebook or other computer that lacks an HDMI output and you are really hankering to get the content from the computer onto the big screen in your living room, Sewell has the perfect adapter for you. The adapter is called the HDdeck USB to HDMI adapter and it is part number SW-31000.

The cool adapter will work with any computer including Mac and Windows machines. The adapter is an external video card that can take input from your computer via USB and convert that to output that can be sent to a HDMI port on your TV. The adapter makes it easy to connect your Pc to a TV for HTPC duties or watching things like Hulu on a larger screen.

Inside the HDdeck adapter is a DisplayLink chip for video performance with enough bandwidth for smooth and stutter free video. The device has enough power to support video games as well. Sewell says that up to six of the adapters can be connected at one time to make a video wall. The adapter supports up to 1080p resolution with 16 and 32-bit color. You can order the adapter right now for $99.95.

Lite-on has pulled the wraps off its latest external DVD burner and the device is called the eNAU608. The slim DVD burners is an external drive that is very thin and would be a great portable option for the ultraportable or netbook user that has a machine with no DVD drive onboard.

The most interesting feature for the user that wants stylish devices is that the top cover insert can be changed to whatever the user wants. The top lifts up and under the clear window the user can put any of their own images they want. The burner has LabelTag and LightScribe tech built-in and the software for burning discs is included with the optical drive.

The drive gets all the power it needs to operate from the USB port of your computer so you don’t need to carry AC adapters around with you. Lite-On ships the drive with several pre-designed inserts on the top that users can choose from. It will burn and read all common DVD and CD formats. The drive is shipping right now for $69.99.

Lava Mobile Phones has unveiled a new mobile device with a big 3-inch IPS touch panel screen called the A10. The new phone has a cool design and Lava promises lots of features and cool aesthetics for users that want functionality and style. The device has the latest IPS panel tech with sharp images and high quality still photos and video. Lava says that the screen tech allows images on screen to be viewed at angles up to 178 degrees.

The phone has a gunmetal finish body and the 3-inch panel has high brightness as well. Other features include a 3.2MP camera that has flash and the device has a Yamaha PA system. It can play video games and has maps of India by my India. The phone also has a G-sensor and can support microSD cards up to 16GB.

Headphones can be used that have a 3.5mm audio jack and the device is Java enabled and the phone has a privacy lock as well. It will access social networks like Facebook and Twitter. That PA system is to allow the phone to play music so more than one person can listen at a time. The device sells for Rs 5499.

Back at CES in January 2010, we spied a cool product for audiophiles from Parasound called the Halo JC 3 Phono Preamplifier. The device debuted at the show and now almost a year later Parasound has announced that the first production samples of the preamp are finally shipping. The device is a dual mono preamplifier with high quality parts, solid construction and a clean design.

It sort of looks like the preamp that Apple would design to me. The device is designed to take the tiny low output signal from a moving coil or magnet from a phonograph cartridge and make it strong enough to deliver the input of a line level preamp. The issue with this according to the maker of the device is that the slightest hint of noise in the phono preamp will ruin the listening experience.

The Halo JC 3 has a dual mono design with unbalanced inputs and outputs that use Vampire RCA jacks. The device also has balanced outputs that use Neutrik XLR jacks. The preamp also has a three position input switch to handle 47 k ohm MM cartridges, 100 ohm MC cartridges, and 47 k ohm MC. The JC 3 promises a signal to noise ratio of 83dB along with a 12V trigger, and a switchable power supply. You can order the device right now for $2,350.

There are gobs of accessories on the market today for iPads and iPhone as well as all the other iPod models that Apple pushes. With the raging popularity we are allows seeing new accessories for the line of music devices surface. A company called Stem Innovation has launched with a new accessory for your iPhone/iPod/iPad called TimeCommand.

The clock is made to sit at your bedside and is round rather than the rectangle that I have seen from everyone else. The round design is cool. It also has some interesting features like the ability to control the lamp you have at the side of your bed and wake you by light. You plug your normal lamp in and the clock will act as a dimmer and wake you with the light from the lamp and your own music.

The clock dock can also turn the light off for you when you go to sleep. The clock has an app that lets you customize dual alarms for waking and has snooze controls and more. The audio is tuned using Sonic iQ tech and the curved LED on the front gives more viewing options. The docking connector pivots and promises to fit devices with cases installed. The device is only in Apple Retail Stores right now for $99.95 and will be offered for sale online soon.

If you have an iPad or iPhone that is running iOS4.2 and you want to be able to print directly from your Apple device wirelessly Epson and Thinxtream have teamed up for a free PrintJinni app that will let you do just that. The app allows for previewing and printing directly to any Epson wireless AIO printer on the market.

The app will work on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Using the app the user can print things like Office documents, PDF files, JPEG photos, email, and all sorts of attachments from email. The app connects the Apple device to the Epson wireless printer using a WiFi network in the home of office.

The app has been around for a while now, so the app in itself isn’t new. What is new is the price. Right now, the app costs $6.99. Epson reports that once the App Store processes a price change the app will be offered free to all users. The change is expected to be made in the US and Canada by the end of December.

Sceptre has been making HDTV for a long while and generally, those sets tend to set themselves apart with crazy colors and with lower price points than many of the other offerings on the market. The company has unveiled a new 37-inch HDTV that has some nice features to it and can be used for a PC monitor as well.

The new set has a 37-inch screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a slim design. It has a glossy black finish, has an automatic dynamic contrast enhancement feature, and has a typical contrast ratio of 4,000:1. There are three HDMI ports on the rear of the set and it has a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

The set supports a USB drive and can show images and play audio from the USB drive that connects to its USB port. Brightness for the set is 450 cd/m2 and the set can swivel up to 30 degrees. Sceptre is offering the set for $499 and it can be purchased at Sears, Target, Amazon, K-Mart, and Newegg.

Pioneer’s head-up display ambitions – which the company showed off at CEATEC 2010 earlier this year – look headed to a commercial release, with Microvision announcing that it will be providing its PicoP laser projection engine for the Pioneer Network Vision system. We shouldn’t have too long to wait until the results start showing up in front of our eyes, either, as Pioneer is targeting commercial introduction of an in-vehicle HUD in 2012.

Video demo after the cut

However, automotive is just one angle the HUD system is being fettled for. Pioneer is apparently planning to use PicoP-based display engines in other consumer and after-market automotive products, though exact details of what we can expect – a Pioneer PMP, perhaps? – are unknown.

Rather than being a standalone system, Pioneer’s Network Vision tech paired via Bluetooth or WiFi with a smartphone running your choice of PND app. The company suggests that by keeping notifications and GPS directions on the screen and at the regular eye-line level rather than on a dashboard display, driver safety will be improved.

MicroVision, Inc. (NASDAQ: MVIS), a leader in innovative ultra-miniature laser display technology, announced today that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pioneer Corporation, one of the top original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of high-performance audio, video and computer equipment for the home, car and business markets, to develop, manufacture and distribute display engines and display engine subsystems for consumer and in-vehicle head-up displays (HUDs) using the MicroVision PicoP(R) laser display technology.

Earlier this year, the two companies executed a joint development agreement to develop two critical components of the PicoP display engine: a laser light source module using direct red, blue, and green lasers and a separate display engine subsystem based on MicroVision’s patented PicoP laser scanning technology. Both are key pieces of the next-generation PicoP display engine that will offer OEMs significant commercial advantages in price, size, power, and performance for embedded solutions ranging from cell phones and eyewear, to airplanes and automobiles.

The MOU establishes the framework of a future manufacturing and commercial distribution agreement for PicoP-based display engines to be used in consumer, after-market and embedded automotive products. Pioneer has announced it is targeting commercial introduction of an in-vehicle HUD using PicoP technology into the consumer market in 2012.

“Pioneer has a strong history of bringing cutting edge technologies to mass markets,” stated Alexander Tokman, president and CEO of MicroVision. “We believe that by combining our respective market and product development capabilities, and leveraging best practices in manufacturing, MicroVision and Pioneer can accelerate introducing next-generation laser display products while reducing the total cost for both companies in getting there.”

Both Pioneer and MicroVision were recently recognized as finalists for the CEATEC Innovation Awards for 2010. Pioneer was recognized in the Automotive category for its demonstration of a HUD using laser scanning technology provided by MicroVision, and MicroVision was recognized in the Components category for its SHOWWX(TM) laser pico projector, powered by the PicoP display engine.

Samsung developed something of a reputation for itself as reluctant to upgrade older Android devices in favor of preserving the prestige of its newer handsets, and the company’s response to questions regarding an Android 2.3 Gingerbread update for the Samsung Galaxy S family of smartphones is unlikely to disperse any paranoia. A company spokesperson told Pocket-lint that an official Gingerbread upgrade is still undecided, blaming – among other things – “system requirements” and “the overall effect of such Update to Samsung products.”

“In case a new version of Android operating system is publicly announced and released, Samsung will review the possibility of implementation of such new version to the existing Samsung products with Android operating system (“Update”).

Such a review will be based on various factors including, without limitation, the overall effect of such Update to Samsung products, the system requirements, the structural limitations, and the level of cooperation from the component suppliers and the software licensors” Samsung spokesperson

Interestingly, Android lead developer Dan Morrill has already stated that Gingerbread’s hardware requirements are basically “similar” to those of Froyo before it. Given the fact that the Nexus S and the Galaxy S are so similar in terms of their core hardware, we can’t imagine there are significant technical aspects limiting the update (though obviously hardware-related features like NFC wouldn’t function, since the Galaxy S range lacks the necessary chip).

The ball is firmly in Samsung’s corner this time, and it seems more like a marketing and range-protection decision than anything to do with the Galaxy S itself. Hopefully – for the company’s reputation, if nothing else – they’ll do the right thing for customers this time around.

AMD’s reportedly delayed Radeon HD 6970/6950 GPUs are apparently on course for release in the third week of December 2010, though initial supplies of the new chips are expected to be limited. Quoting sources at video card manufacturers, DigiTimes claims that AMD will price the new Radeon HD 6970 at around $50-70 less than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580.

That’s supposedly because initial benchmarking has shown that the GTX 580 outperforms the HD 6970, and AMD is expected to undercut its rival so as to make up for the disadvantage. Still, it’s also tipped to have a lower TDP than the NVIDIA, as well as offer more connections: two DVI ports, two Mini DisplayPorts, and an HDMI port. According to earlier leaks, the Cayman-based video cards will pack 1,536 stream processors, 32 ROPs, 96 texture units and 2GB of GDDR5 memory.